KBI identifies man killed in Ness County officer-involved shooting

8 August 2023

NESS COUNTY, Kan. (KSNW) — The Kansas Bureau of Investigation says a man, now identified as 46-year-old Jesse L. Nicholls from Ransom, has died after a shooting involving law enforcement officers in Ness County Tuesday morning.

According to the KBI, preliminary information indicates that 911 calls were made just before 10 a.m. regarding a man with a gun making threats at an unknown address in Ransom.

Deputies were able to pinpoint the exact house, near Vermont Avenue and Third Street, where the domestic disturbance was happening and responded to the scene. Once there, a sheriff’s deputy began talking to the man on the phone.

The deputy talking to Nicholls eventually convinced him to come out of the house.

When Nicholls came out and into the front yard, he initially complied with commands to put the pistol he was carrying down but then picked it up and fired toward the ground, according to the KBI.

Immediately upon Nicholls’ firing of the weapon, the KBI says a deputy from the Ness County Sheriff’s Office fired multiple times, striking Nicholls.


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EMS, already at the scene, attempted life-saving measures. They transferred Nicholls to an area hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

No deputies were injured in the shooting.

The KBI says it will conduct a thorough and independent investigation into this incident. Once the investigation concludes, the KBI says the findings will be turned over to the Ness County Attorney for review.

An investigation is ongoing.

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